Letter to the editor: Are Vermont’s environmental efforts worth it?

Last March my wife and I spent two weeks way down south. One week was on the Florida coast just north of Miami, the second on coastal Georgia. 

The Vermont Public Utilities Commission could do so much more to advance clean energy and help the planet recover in time for our grandchildren to lead healthy lives.

Addison County contractors helping residents decarbonize their homes face a few obstacles in providing those services, notably a lack of available, trained workers and challenges in accessing “greener” supplies. 

In Vermont, the scent of wood smoke on a late fall afternoon is an iconic smell. It’s not like that here today, in the first week of June — it’s more like sitting on the side of the campfire where the wind is blowing, but without any of the benefits of th … (read more)

A Middlebury College student group has unveiled a proposed road map for the town of Middlebury’s quest to cut its emission of carbon dioxide cause by municipal operations by 80% by the end of this decade.

Embodying the New England dream entails not only appreciating the region’s natural beauty, history and culture, but also actively engaging in the community and building a sustainable home.

The Legislature’s highest-profile climate bill, sponsored by Addison County Sen. Chris Bray, will become law despite the governor’s opposition.

As Governor, I believe we must make Vermont more affordable by helping Vermonters keep more of what they earn, while we simultaneously make transformative, strategic investments in important areas like community revitalization, climate action, housing, ch … (read more)

The reality is: for both people and the planet, business as usual doesn’t work.

“Sometimes we are so possessive of the earth that we want to use up all of its offerings, but we should remember that we are all only on earth for a very short time. It’s not something that we own but something that we are renting for a very short while.”

What do food justice and climate resiliency actually look like? Few can deny that one of Vermont’s best attributes is its commitment to locally grown food. 

The bill would mandate that Vermonters pay for their heating sources’ impact on climate change, but rulemaking would take two years.

Amid the sunny days of midsummer this past July, the Climate Economy Action Center of Addison County (CEAC) published a list of steps community members could take to fight the climate crisis and curb the rapid warming of the planet. 

Activist, author and master storyteller George Lakey returns to Middlebury next week to read from his new memoir, “Dancing With History:  a Life for Peace and Justice,” and to preview a new documentary film based on his life.  

I want to focus on just one aspect of the bill: the assignment of clean heat credits to various measures that are proposed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from heating buildings.